National Jobs Council appoints IBF as Jobs Development Partner for Financial Services Sector

Singapore, 16 October 2020…  the Monetary Authority of Singapore

The Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) has been appointed by the National Jobs Council as the Jobs Development Partner (JDP) for financial services sector. As JDP, IBF will boost opportunities for Singaporeans to access jobs, traineeships, and training in the financial services sector.

2.      IBF’s appointment as JDP reflects its capabilities as an integrated service provider of skills training, career advisory and job matching for the financial services sector. IBF has been playing an increasing role in recent years in promoting workforce transformation, building the talent pipeline, and providing career facilitation services for the sector. As JDP, IBF will step up its efforts to create opportunities for Singaporeans in five ways. 

3.      First, IBF will, in collaboration with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), launch a six-monthly survey on hiring opportunities and potential job losses in the financial services sector. This new data exercise will provide IBF with timely information to proactively engage financial institutions on job and training opportunities for Singaporeans.  

4.      Second, using the survey data on potential job losses, IBF will proactively reach out to the relevant financial institutions and offer support to their affected staff through pre-emptive reskilling and possible redeployment within the firm or the industry. This is an expansion of IBF’s current focus on supporting workers who are in job roles that are being transformed due to the wider adoption of technology in financial services.

5.      Third, with more granular data on hiring opportunities, IBF will be able to better prioritise new training and attachment programmes for mid-career professionals making career transitions. Such programmes will model on the successful Technology in Finance Immersion Programme (TFIP) [1] which was piloted in 2019 and scaled up in 2020. 

6.      Fourth, IBF will complement its pool of professional career coaches with adjunct coaches who are senior financial services practitioners. The specialised knowledge and experience of these adjunct coaches will enable more effective career coaching services by IBF.

7.      Fifth, IBF will hold more targeted career fairs that will bring together the hiring and traineeship opportunities offered by various financial institutions into a common platform.  IBF will be better able to support jobseekers in accessing these opportunities through career advisory, skills training and placement services. 

Please see Annex A for IBF’s expanded efforts as a JDP.

8.      Ms Jacqueline Loh, MAS Deputy Managing Director, Co-Chair of the Financial Sector Tripartite Committee, and IBF Council member, said, “As the sector’s JDP, IBF will work more proactively with financial institutions, to create and re-design jobs. This will better equip our workforce with the relevant skills, and more effectively match jobseekers with the many good job opportunities in the financial sector. MAS and IBF will deepen our partnership with the industry to strengthen the Singapore financial centre and its Singaporean core.”

9.      IBF Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ng Nam Sin, said, “We are honoured by the appointment. While we intensify our work on job matching, there are many opportunities to re-skill our jobseekers to take on jobs in new growth areas. IBF’s close partnership with financial institutions allow us to do this more effectively.”

10.      For more information about the JDPs initiative, please refer to NJC’s media release.

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